More than $300 million in funding for research and development of geothermal energy has been announced by U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu. This now pushes Google.org into second place behind the government in domestic geothermal R & D funding.

The projects funded by this program address the need to further develop geothermal energy, including advanced mapping and drilling research and exploration of low temperature geothermal. Some of these funds will go towards ground source heat pump research and demonstration projects, which do not generate power directly, but which use the energy they do consume for heating and cooling in a much more efficient manner.